NHL: The 10 Best and 10 Worst Playoff Teams of the Past 25 Years

The Detroit Red Wings have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs 24 of the last 25 seasons. In fact, they have made it the past 24 seasons in a row, collecting four Stanley Cups along they way (via six Finals appearances). The Wings are unquestionably the best NHL playoff team of the past 25 years.

The New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins have three Cups over this period and sport an 80 percent playoff probability. In other words, over the past 25 seasons, these two teams made the postseason four out of every five years.

The St. Louis Blues have also made the playoffs 80 percent of the time, but have no Stanley Cup Finals appearances to claim. They actually haven’t been to the Finals since 1969-70.

What about the worst playoff teams of the past 25 seasons?

Most are relatively new teams. Five of the 10 (11 with ties) worst playoff teams haven’t even been around 25 years. The rest joined the league with the third expansion in 1972-73 or later. Well, except for one of the Original Six!: The Toronto Maple Leafs. They haven’t won a Cup, either, since the 1960’s. Egad, get it together classic team!